Nothing has pushed my PC additional than Microsoft Flight Simulator. That may sound odd for a “game” that’s largely about flying round empty skies by your self, however Asobo’s newest iteration of the basic franchise is technically groundbreaking and impressive, with all method of wizardry occurring past the scenes to stream in correct metropolis information, real-time climate results, and so forth. I’ve nonetheless had a good time with it, however in comparison with most AAA video games, Flight Simulator asks much more of your CPU.

That’s why I used to be intrigued by the brand new model for Xbox Series consoles, which comes out on Game Pass tomorrow. In reality, it’s the primary Microsoft sport for Xbox Series consoles that gained’t run natively on any Xbox One mannequin in any respect, although an xCloud model can also be coming to cellular and can finally hit older Xbox consoles as properly. I’ve been enjoying a preview construct offered by Microsoft on my Series X for a couple of days, and as with my PC, I feel it’s the strongest exercise for the {hardware} thus far.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is basically the identical proposition on Xbox as it’s on PC, providing gamers the possibility to pilot a wide range of plane round a superbly rendered model of our planet. The tutorials have been tweaked a little bit, with a sequence of shorter missions that ought to make it simpler to stand up to hurry, and the varied instructions have been mapped to the Xbox controller in an easy, accessible approach. You could make the flight mannequin simply as advanced because the PC model in order for you, though proper now there aren’t lots of Xbox-compatible flight stick choices.

On the Series X, Flight Simulator runs at 4K decision and targets 30 frames per second. Overall, I bought a extra steady expertise on the Series X than my very own i5 6600K/GTX 1080 rig, which was spectacular after I put it collectively 5 years in the past however considerably much less so now. The body price isn’t completely easy — you’ll be able to drop beneath 30 when flying low in dense areas like downtown Manhattan, for instance, and that’s noticeable. It helped that I performed on an LG CX OLED TV, which is able to variable refresh charges and means you don’t expertise tearing or stuttering when the body price does fluctuate above or beneath 30.

Graphical settings are broadly akin to what you’d get on a great gaming PC, if not fairly on the prime of the road. The sport constantly appears to be like gorgeous if you’re excessive within the air, and any seams within the expertise are solely actually obvious when flying near the bottom. That tends to be extra to do with how the photogrammetry streaming know-how works — once more, should you fly rapidly into Manhattan or Shinjuku, not each skyscraper is at all times going to be loaded into reminiscence without delay, which means some buildings may seem a little bit wobbly at first. I additionally seen a couple of amusing glitches on occasion, like automobiles driving on the floor of the River Thames in London as a substitute of on Tower Bridge immediately above.

As for the Series S, my colleague Tom Warren has spent a while testing that model, and the outcomes are spectacular for a tiny $299 field. The sport runs at 1080p with diminished graphical results and draw distances, however as you’ll see from the video, it delivers a stable Flight Simulator expertise and will likely be by far the most cost effective approach to obtain it.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has improved lots since its launch final 12 months, with “world updates” that increase the extra detailed photogrammetry information additional throughout the globe. That’s all there within the Xbox model, too, together with the newest Nordics replace that features hand-rendered airports and factors of curiosity throughout Scandinavia, Iceland, and Finland. (It’s additionally price noting that the PC model is getting an extra replace this week that Microsoft guarantees ought to dramatically enhance efficiency throughout the board — keep tuned for a way that works in follow.)

If something, the Xbox model can really feel a little bit too near the PC model at occasions, with an sometimes clunky cursor-driven interface. It’s a little bit conspicuous to have a graphic settings menu the place the one choice is to show HDR on and off, for instance. But it’s higher to depart an excessive amount of in than to chop an excessive amount of out: what issues is that the flying expertise is nearly as good because it might be given the {hardware} available.

From what I’ve performed of Microsoft Flight Simulator on the Xbox Series X, I don’t really feel like Asobo has left a lot on the desk. It’s nonetheless an unbelievable technical achievement, and one properly price testing when it hits Game Pass tomorrow.